MANORS AND OTHER ESTATES
Ealdor-
man Aelfgar between 946 and 951 devised land
at Colne to his daughter Aelfflaed who between
1000 and 1002 devised it to the religious house
at Stoke by Nayland (Suff.). About 1040, how-
ever, Earls Colne belonged to a widow,
Leofgifu, and in 1066 it was held by Wulfwine
whose lands were granted to Aubrey de Vere
after the Conquest. (fn. 8) Aubrey and his descend-
ants, the earls of Oxford, held EARLS COLNE
until the execution and attainder of John de Vere
in 1462. (fn. 9) The manor was granted to Richard
duke of Gloucester, but was recovered by John's
heir, another John de Vere, in 1464. That John
forfeited his lands in 1471, and Earls Colne was
granted to the duke of Gloucester in 1471, to
Edward IV's queen, Elizabeth Woodville, in
1475, and to Sir Thomas Montgomery in 1484. (fn. 10)
In 1485 John de Vere recovered his estates, and
Earls Colne descended with the earldom of
Oxford until 1584 when Edward de Vere sold it
to Roger Harlakenden. (fn. 11)
The lands with which the de Veres endowed
Colne priory became the separate manor of
COLNE PRIORY, which was granted to John
de Vere, earl of Oxford, at the Dissolution. (fn. 12)
Edward de Vere surrendered the reversion to
Elizabeth I in 1588, but in 1592 he sold the
manor to Roger Harlakenden and his son
Richard. (fn. 13)
Roger Harlakenden died in 1603, having
devised the manors to his son Richard (d. 1631)
who was succeeded by his son, another
Richard. (fn. 14) On the younger Richard's death in
1677 the manors were divided between his
daughters, Margaret, wife of John Eldred, and
Elizabeth, wife of Thomas Bowes, and his
granddaughter Mary Harlakenden, wife of
Daniel Andrews. (fn. 15) Elizabeth's son, Thomas
Harlakenden Bowes, sold his third to Mary
Andrews, and in 1700 the lands were divided
between her and John Eldred; the manors con-
tinued to be held in common, Mary Andrews
and John Eldred each holding a moiety. (fn. 16)
Mary Andrews died in 1729, her son Richard
in 1730, and her moiety passed to her daughter
Anne who married John Wale. (fn. 17) She was suc-
ceeded by her sons John (d. 1761) and Charles
Wale (d. c. 1765), and then by her daughter
Anne Holgate. (fn. 18) Anne was succeeded in 1767 by
her daughter Mary Holgate or Holgate Wale. (fn. 19)
The Eldred moiety descended with Olivers in
Stanway to John Eldred (d. 1738) who devised
it to his sister Anne (d. 1760), wife of the
younger John Wale, with remainder to Thomas
Kilner. John Eldred's widow Susannah held the
moiety until her death in 1780, and in 1781
Thomas Kilner sold it to Mary Holgate Wale. (fn. 20)
On Mary's death in 1787 the manors passed
to Anne Holgate's granddaughter Anne Holgate
(d. 1817) and her husband Thomas Carwardine
(d. 1824). (fn. 21) They were succeeded by their sons
H. H. (d. 1867) and J. B. Carwardine (d. 1871)
and by J. B. Carwardine's son John. (fn. 22) After
John's death in 1889 the manors of Earls Colne
and Colne Priory were separated. Earls Colne
passed to John's son F. H. Carwardine (d. 1910)
and daughter Florence Mary, who married J. H.
W. Keeling; Colne Priory passed to W. R.
Probert, son of H. H. and J. B. Carwardine's
sister Anne and her husband Thomas Probert.
Mrs. Keeling was still lady of Earls Colne manor
in 1937, when the last copyholds had been
enfranchised and manorial rights extinguished.
W. R. Probert was succeeded at Colne Priory
by his son W. G. Carwardine Probert who sold
the manor c. 1935. (fn. 23)
The medieval manor house stood south of the
church, but by 1487 it had been replaced by one
in the priory. In 1509 that house contained a
great chamber and at least four other chambers,
one above a porch. (fn. 24) The house, then called
Colne House, was repaired in 1563-4. In 1598
there were three domestic buildings with halls
and cross wings on the site, linked by walled
and fenced courts, as well as two cottages and
barns; (fn. 25) the largest house may have been that
described in 1631 as having a hall, parlour,
dining chamber, middle room, great chamber,
17 other chambers, and garrets. (fn. 26)
About 1736 John Wale built a new brick
house; it faced west with a plain classical five-
bayed front. Of two storeys with attics, it con-
tained a hall, three parlours, and a drawing room
on the ground floor with bedrooms above. Some
material from the old house, including parts of
the earls' tombs, was incorporated into the new
one. The outhouses included a brewhouse,
coach house, and stable; the gatepiers to the
stable court re-used more fragments of the old
house. The grounds contained several fish-
ponds, presumably originally the priory's. (fn. 27) The
house was given a twin-towered north entrance
front, in imitation of an East Anglian brick
house of c. 1500, by H. H. Carwardine in 1825.
He retained the 18th-century plan, but restyled
the east front and added the east canted bay and
the single-storeyed south wing. Both bay and
wing were remodelled later in the 19th century,
the latter being more than doubled in size to its
east. (fn. 28) South additions, including a swimming
pool, were made in the 1990s.
Edward de Vere, earl of Oxford, sold the
former park to Roger Harlakenden in 1584, and
Roger settled part of it, the Great Lodge and
380 a., on his younger son Thomas. (fn. 29) Richard
Harlakenden in 1631 devised the reversion of
Little Lodge and 360 a. to his younger son
Roger. (fn. 30) About 1638 Roger's trustees sold Little
Lodge to Sir John Jacob, who bought Great
Lodge from Thomas Harlakenden in 1639. Sir
John's descendant Sir Hildebrand Jacob sold the
whole estate to George Aufrere in 1765. (fn. 31) By
1785 it had passed to Filmer Honeywood of
Markshall, and it descended with the Marks
Hall estate thereafter. (fn. 32)
Old Lodge Farm incorporates a 15th-century
fragment of the Great Lodge. Timber-framed
and almost square in plan with a west chimney
stack, it had a ground floor room with a fireplace,
probably a kitchen, and an unheated room
above. The building may have continued to the
north and west. Abutting but detached from its
east side is a two-storeyed hall range with west
cross wing, probably built or adapted as a farm-
house after disparking c. 1575. The remains can
perhaps be identified with the house which stood
in 1598, and which had two cross wings, one
much larger than the other and with a large
stack. (fn. 33) A stair turret was built in the south-west
angle between the two buildings in the 17th
century or later.